


Maps

by gingersnapsandbubblewrap



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Rocker!Chloe AU, dealing with loss of a friend, partly songfic, post-suicide, probably smut, roadtrip au, some fluff some angst, suicide TW
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-11 05:33:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5615719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingersnapsandbubblewrap/pseuds/gingersnapsandbubblewrap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of "Creep", Max and Chloe decide to start driving and leave everything else behind.<br/>Part Two of the fic "Creep".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

The cashier shot yet another suspicious glance at the girl wandering the convenience store. She paid him no mind-- or rather, pretended not to. She had long ago stopped caring about people on the street giving her appraising or wary looks, but this time she suspected that her blue hair and tats weren’t the reason for the cautious attitude as much as the fact that it was two in the morning in the middle of god-knows-where. She grabbed some chips and a few water bottles off the shelves and placed them in front of the cashier, who lowered his magazine long enough to ring her up and offer a halfhearted “Thank you, have a nice day.”

Chloe nodded and pushed past the door. Outside, the night was quiet and chilly. Mountains loomed reservedly in the distance, the landscape dotted with bushy pine trees and scrub. Chloe started off across the cracked pavement, kicking at loose pebbles with the toe of her combat boot.  _ It’s such a sad, small-ass town. Everything just seems so still.  _ Chloe scratched her head.  _ Jesus, where are we, anyway? California?  _

She clambered into the front seat of her truck. “Got some grub, Maxaroni. How do you feel about Fritos?” No response. “Max?” She glanced over. Max was sound asleep in the passenger seat, forehead slumped against the window, arms folded in her lap and just the slightest dribble of drool at the corner of her mouth. Chloe smiled.  _ I won’t wake her. She’s bound to be exhausted by now.  _ Tentatively, Chloe reached out and brushed a piece of hair out from Max’s eyes. Max stirred, whimpering a little in her sleep, and Chloe felt a pang of sympathy paired with the sudden urge to cry.  _ She’s gone through so much shit,  _ Chloe thought for the millionth time in the past two days.  _ I wish I could... _ her thought trailed off. She didn’t know what she could do. 

Chloe leaned her head against the steering wheel and felt the urgent pull of sleep.  _ Better find someplace to crash.  _ She started up the car and pulled out of the gas station parking lot, puttering down the empty road.  _ Won’t be hard to find someplace to crash where no one will bother us, _ she thought.  _ I mean, hell, the population here is probably fifty if you include the cows.  _

She pulled the car next to an empty field and shut the engine off, retrieved blankets from the back seat, and draped one carefully over Max. “‘Night,” she whispered. Max didn’t respond. Chloe leaned forward and pressed her lips to Max’s forehead, only barely grazing her skin, before she retreated quickly out of embarrassment at herself. She turned to face the window and cranked the seat as far back as it could go before wrapping up in her blanket and trying, against the cold and the worry and the discomfort, to drift into sleep.

This would be a long road trip. 


	2. Max Caulfield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for panic attack. No song for this chapter, but maybe there'll be more of those later!

Chapter 2-- Max Caulfield

 

_ Ground beneath my feet. The sound of gravel crunching. I’m walking alongside a long, dark road-- the night is quiet, almost chillingly so, there isn’t even the distant chirp of bugs lurking in the tall grass. A truck roars past me, and briefly illuminated in the headlights I can see someone walking by the side of the road, far in front of me. Time slows down. I recognize her. I start running, and the ground beneath my feet turns to swirling quicksand, my legs slogging in slow motion through the mush as I struggle in vain. _

_ Another pair of headlights passes, and I scream out someone’s name. The girl turns. I thought it was Victoria, but now it’s Chloe, and she looks so disappointed in me. “I know what you did,” she says softly. She’s behind me. I’m on my hands and knees and Chloe starts to cry. _

_ “I don’t want to do this.” I bury my face in my hands. Chloe drops the gun.  _

_ “It was the best farewell gift I could have hoped for,” she says. Her face doesn’t match her words. She places a hand on my shoulder and we both look up at Kate. Her body swings slightly in the breeze.  _

Max woke up to firm hands on her shoulders, shaking her firmly. 

“Max. Max!” She opened her eyes into the bright sunlight, senses all immediately flooded. Sunlight blinded her, shining in through the windows of the car. Her back and shoulders were sore, and she was cold underneath the blanket that had been half-shaken off. Her eyes adjusted to the light and finally she made out Chloe’s face, blue eyes wide with worry.

“Chloe?” she said. Her mouth felt dry and strange. 

“It’s okay,” Chloe said. She pulled her into a tight hug. “It was just a dream, Max. You’re okay.” 

“A dream,” Max repeated. She closed her eyes, and memories came trickling back. A road. Chloe...or Victoria, maybe, and the lingering feeling of deja vu. 

Kate swinging lifeless from a gnarled tree. Max felt like puking all of a sudden, and her morning daze sharpened into crystal-clear pain. She shuddered. Chloe’s arms wrapped tighter around her, and Max fought the urge to cry. 

“Ch-Chloe?” she said. Chloe pulled back to see Max’s face.

“Yeah?”  _ She looks so damn worried,  _ Max thought.  _ She looks… _

Max’s eyes lingered on Chloe’s sleep-tousled hair, her blue eyes, her soft skin and mouth. Max took a deep breath and closed the gap between them in the space of a heartbeat. The memory of her aborted kiss in the apartment came flooding back; Chloe’s mouth felt so soft and warm, and Max could hardly believe she was here at all.  _ What did Chloe say that time? “I kissed her and I felt light as fucking air.”  _

Max felt Chloe stiffen in shock for a second. She was about to pull away again, but Chloe began kissing her back and  _ oh god,  _ Max could feel her heart leap into her throat. Chloe moved against her, brushing a hand against Max’s cheek, and Max pressed deeper into the kiss, wanting more, needing to feel Chloe respond against her. Chloe melted against her mouth, pressing back with almost as much urgency as Max felt and then just as the world began to permanently melt away under the touch of Chloe’s mouth and the feel of the hands against her face, she pulled away. 

Max opened her eyes, now leaning into empty air. Chloe’s eyes were still shut, mouth parted just slightly, cheeks flushed. At long last, she opened her eyes and Max saw something like confusion in them. 

“Max, I…” Chloe laughed, more of a stuttering breath than anything else. “...where the hell did that come from?” Max took a deep breath. 

“Sorry about this,” she said. Chloe shook her head in confusion.

“Sorry? For wha--” Max lifted her hand and the world began to spin. Max closed her eyes again and when she opened them, Chloe’s arms were around her. “It was just a dream,” Chloe said soothingly. “You’re okay.” Max closed her eyes, savoring the lingering feeling of CHloe’s mouth pressed against hers for a second more.

“Chloe?” she said.

“Yeah?” Choe pulls away. Same messy bedhead. Same worried eyes. Max feels terrible for a halting second, feels like she’s using Chloe for her own selfish purposes.  _ I just want the comfort, _ Max thought bitterly.  _ None of the consequences. I’m worse than Rachel.  _ The feeling dies as soon as the full weight of the situation slams her like a truck:  _ Kate is dead. Kate is dead and I don’t deserve any of this.  _ Comparatively, everything else seems small and petty. 

“...I’m kinda freaking starving,” Max confesses. She hears the strain of trying to sound genuine in her voice. Chloe does too, Max sees it in her eyes, but Chloe just nods and smiles in a way that Max guesses is supposed to be encouraging. 

“Yeah, okay. I think I saw a truck stop awhile back, we can grab some food and maybe eve shower. I dunno about you, but I feel hella gross.” She shifts into place in the driver’s seat and revs the engine before pulling out into the road. 

Max turns away, looking out the window, the impression of Chloe’s lips still ghosting across Max’s.

*****

Max sat outside the truck stop bathroom, hair still damp from her shower. The lingering pain in her chest that Max had staved off by kissing Chloe had come back, weighing her down from the outside in. It felt like someone had cut her in half. Sitting there, on the plastic chair pushed next to the bathroom door, she felt paralyzed. Everything around her felt fake, distant. 

_ Kate is dead. _ The thought still felt foreign, unreal.  _ She’s dead she’s dead she’s dead.  _ Max took a deep breath and a wave of anxiety flooded her lungs instead of oxygen and  _ oh god  _ she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, everything was suddenly so bright...Max closed ehr eyes, but the noise aroun her just seemed to get louder and louder…

“Max?” A hand brushed her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Max’s eyes flew open in panic. “Max, are you...are you okay?” Max felt her heart going crazy in her chest, ripples of nervous energy making her hands tremble and her palms sweat. She shook her head back and forth once. “What’s going on?” Chloe tilted her head. Max opened her mouth but her throat wouldn’t work properly so she just shook her head. Chloe leaned in for a hug. All of a sudden, every nerve in Max’s body was screaming for escape, run, get  _ out.  _ Max pushed her away roughly and for a second Chloe looked hurt. 

“N-no...don’t...I c-can’t…” Max stuttered out, and then she was crying in sobbing gasps. 

“Okay, that’s okay,” Chloe said softly. 

“I’m sorry, Chloe, I’m sorry,” Max said. Her hands made their way up to her hair and she tangled them into her scalp, tugging hard to anchor her to some sort of feeling of reality. 

“Don’t be,” Chloe said. She placed a hand over Max’s. “Is this...okay?” Max nodded slowly. “Hey, take a deep breath, okay?” Max obliged, haltingly and with more snot than she’d have liked. A passing trucker gave them an odd look, and Chloe shot them a venomous glare. Max shut her eyes and took a few more deep breaths. 

“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry,” she repeated, over and over again. 

“You’re okay,” Chloe said. Max wiped at her face with a free hand. 

“Chloe?” she said softly. 

“Hmm?”

“...I’ll take that hug now.” Max said. Chloe nodded and knelt down to wrap her arms around Max carefully, pausing a moment to make sure it was all right before squeezing her tight. 

“I’m happy to give one,” she said smoothly. Max took another shuddery breath and buried her face deep into Chloe’s shoulder, inhaling her comforting smell. After a calming few minutes of hugging, Max drew away, wiping at her eyes. 

“Better?” Chloe asked. 

“A little,” Max said. “I...I don’t know what the hell just happened.” Chloe shrugged. 

“Panic attack? I dunno, it happens a lot when…” She trailed off. Neither of them had said the ‘d-word’ since that night Max had told her what happened to Kate. Chloe stood, grabbing Max’s hand and tugging her to her feet. “C’mon. Getting some food in you won’t hurt.” Max nodded and kept close to Chloe as they picked out food, trying to ignore the fact that some people were staring. 

“Chloe, I think people are giving me weird looks. I look like I’ve been crying.” Chloe shrugged. 

“So? You have. None of their damn business.” She led Max to the checkout and paid for the food. 

“Hey, it gets better, y’all, don’t worry,” the cashier said when they were done. 

“Excuse me?” Chloe said. The man behind the counter gave a warm smile.

“It’s okay, a friend ‘o mine got kicked out too when his parents found out. But now he’s living in San Fran with his husband, so it’ll get better for y’all, you hear?” Max half expected Chloe to say something snarky, but instead she just smiled. 

“Yeah. Okay, thanks.” 

“You two have a good one,” the cashier said as they left. Once they were out of earshot, Chloe snickered. 

“He actually thought we were a couple,” Chloe said. “God, could you imagine?” She held the door open and waggled her eyebrows. “After you,  _ my love. _ ” Max couldn’t help but giggle at that. Ignoring the way her heart skipped into her throat at the words ‘my love’, she clambered into the truck. 

“Ready to hit the road?” Max asked. 

“Hella.” Chloe popped open her can of cola and chugged it as she started up the car. “Any idea which direction we’ll be driving?” 

“I think...south,” Max said. “At least till we hit civilization.” 

“South it is.” Chloe grinned at her from the driver’s seat and Max considered kissing her again.  _ No _ , she reminded herself.  _ One is enough...for today, at least. _


	3. Chloe Price

“ _ And if I groo oold, _

_ Well ah know ahm gonna be,  _

_ I’m gonna be the mahn whoo’s growin’ oold wi’ you!”  _ Chloe hollered over the blaring radio. 

“God, that’s awful,” Max shouted between laughs. 

“ _ But ah wood walk five handred miles _

_ And ah wood walk five handred moore! _

_ Just tah be tha man who’d walk one thousand miles _

_ Tah fall doon at your door!”  _ Chloe howled, pounding the steering wheel in time with the music. Max reached for the radio and Chloe batted her away, leaving Max pouting in her seat. 

“Have you even  _ heard  _ a scottish person?” Max yelled over the music. “Your accent is terrible!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Chloe shouted back. The car came to a stop at the red light, music still blaring. Max slumped down in her seat, avoiding the gaze of the other annoyed drivers at the light. Chloe grinned and resumed singing loudly. Max’s face flushed red. 

_ “Badadada! (badadada!) _

_ Ba-da-dun-a-da-dun-a-da-dun-a-da-da-dada!  _ Come  _ on,  _ Max!” Chloe insisted. Max’s face flushed deeper. Over Chloe’s shoulder she could see the man in the truck adjacent to them staring. Reluctantly, she sang along with the next verse.

“ _ When I’m lonely _

_ Well I know I’m gonna be _

_ I’m gonna be the man who’s lonely without you…”  _

“Boo! Weaksauce!” Chloe yelled. 

“What? I’m  _ singing _ ,” Max said. 

“You have to do the accent or it doesn’t count.” Max sighed heavily. 

_ “Ahnd when ahm dreamin’ _

_ Well ah know ahm gonna be _

_ Ahm gonna be the man who’s dreamin’ aboot yoo!”  _ Chloe roared with laughter.  __

“God, and you’re making fun of  _ my  _ accent?” She shook her head and sung along with Max at top volume as the light turned green, tires squealing as she hit the gas. 

“ _ But ah wood walk five handrend miles _

_ And ah wood walk five handred moore, _

_ Just tah be the man who’d walk one thoosand miles _

_ Just tah fall down at your do-o-or!”  _ Chloe erupted into laughter as the song ended. Max finally was able to switch off the radio and couldn’t help but giggle along with her. 

“Oh god...oh fucking jesus christ I gotta pull over…” Chloe gasped. “Jesus  _ fuck  _ I’m gonna  _ piss! _ ” The truck pulled onto the shoulder and Chloe flung herself with every ounce of melodrama she had onto the steering wheel and laughed. 

Max watched her with giddy excitement, laughing along with more vague astonishment than anything else. Chloe lifted her head, tears streaming down her face. 

“Oh-oh my g-god, that was funny!” She wiped her face clean with the heel of her hand and continued. “Your fucking  _ face  _ when you started just  _ belting _ like that...Jesus, your eyes were bugging out like crazy!” She erupted into a fresh set of giggles, and Max shoved her playfully. 

“Oh my dog, shut  _ up.  _ I do not.”

“You d-do!” Chloe insisted. Max let out a sigh and waited until Chloe’s laughter petered out and they pulled back onto the road. 

“Jesus, that was good,” Chloe said, shaking her head. She glanced over at Max. Her eyes were fixed out the passenger side window.  _ Not good enough to keep her smiling for more than five minutes, I guess.  _ She let the silence between them hang in the air for an agonizing three minutes before she switched the radio back on. 

Chloe had been determined to keep Max’s mind off Kate since her breakdown at the truck stop this morning. She couldn’t stand seeing Max like that, curled up and sobbing and completely hopeless. So she’d been playing the joker card all day ( _ Max! Check it out, this town is actually named Weed, California! WEED, Max! We’ve gotta get a picture with the sign! Hey Max, d’you think I could pull off stealing five pounds of turkey jerky if I hide it under my jacket and act like I’m pregnant? You can be the baby daddy! _ ) to try and keep her smiling.  _ All attempts seem useless, Commander,  _ Chloe narrated to herself.  _ Project Max is dead in the water.  _

If she was totally honest with herself, Chloe knew how it felt, sort of. Losing a dad wasn’t the same as a friend, but that kind of pain wasn’t something completely unfamiliar to her. She wished Max would just fucking  _ talk  _ to her. 

_ No,  _ Chloe insisted.  _ No, no, you aren’t  _ that  _ kind of friend. You’re Rocker Chloe, the reckless one who gets kicked out of bands. The one who agrees to spur-of-the-moment car trips to who-cares-where. You’re not the one who gets to talk deep shit with. Hell, Max has known you a week, you think she trusts you enough for that? _ Chloe fought back a frustrated growl and kept her eyes on the road.  _ Just stay out of it.  _

“Sacramento is coming up in maybe an hour,” she said, breaking the silence.

“Hmm?” Max sat up a little straighter, blinking away her dazed expression. “Oh...yeah.”

“Maybe we could stop for a little bit?” Chloe offered. Max shrugged. 

“Sounds good to me.” She turned back away from Chloe, shutting her eyes and leaning her forehead against the window. 

*****

“Ma-ax,” Chloe crooned. Max mumbled in her sleep. Chloe poked her cheek with a finger, grinning at Max’s sleeping face.  _ Aww, she’s got little red lines on her face from sleeping on the seatbelt. Hella cute.  _ “Maaaax, we’re heeeere,” she sang. “C’mon, dork, wake  _ up. _ ” 

“Chlo--?” Max sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. 

“She joins the living! We’re in Sacramento, Max, get up.” Max nodded sleepily and stretched. “You talk in your sleep, y’know,” Chloe said. 

“What? No way,” Max said, sounding much more awake and all too defensive. 

“Do so,” Chloe said smugly. 

“Yeah? What do I talk about?” Max asked.

_ Mostly you just say “Kate” over and over, _ Chloe thought.  _ Sometimes I catch something about me, too, but… _ “Mumbling, mostly. And you drool all. Over. My car.” Chloe snickered. “It’d be gross if it weren’t so damn adorable.”  _ Shit, don’t hit on the traumatized girl, Chloe.  _

Max blushed endearingly and swatted halfheartedly at Chloe before she looked around. “Where in Sacramento are we?”

“I just pulled over at the first diner I saw,” Chloe replied. “I dunno about you, but I could eat a fucking cow.” 

“Food sounds good,” Max said. Five minutes later they were out of the car and seated at one of the booths that all diners seemed to sport, with the red plastic cushions and smoky metal tables next to the window. Chloe grinned at the sight of them-- for once, a familiar sight that  _ didn’t  _ make her wanna puke. 

“My mom works at one of these. A diner, back in Arcadia Bay.” Chloe said. “I actually kinda miss it.”

“Yeah?” Max said. “Does your mom...I mean...do you guys still talk?” 

“Hell yeah,” Chloe said. “She was pissed when I dropped outta to go play in a band, obviously, but...I dunno. As much as we fight, she’s always gonna be there for me, y’know? Pretty sweet deal.”  _ And now I don’t have a band anymore, _ Chloe thought suddenly.  _ Shit. Asking her to move back in isn’t something I wanna do.  _ She could imagine the humiliation, having to move all her shit into her old room, having to deal with fucking step-douche again...

“Is that why you chose this place?” Max asked. Chloe was snapped from her thoughts.

“A little, I guess. And I miss diner food.” She grinned. “They had ‘breakfast all day’ in the window, sooo…” Max gave a perfunctory smile that only went as far as her mouth before falling quiet again. Chloe cleared her throat. “Hey, uh...Max?” Max looked up, and for a moment, she was totally unguarded, without a quick, shallow smile or carefully neutral expression to hide the lingering ache behind her eyes. Chloe glanced away. It was a moment of exposure, and she felt intrusive to happen to see it. It was all too familiar a feeling to see on someone else’s face for Chloe’s comfort. She cleared her throat again. 

“If you...ever wanna talk, then...I wouldn’t mind listening.” Chloe looked back up to meet Max’s eyes. “That’s all.”

“Chloe,” Max said softly. Chloe’s breath caught in her throat. Max’s hand moved towards where Chloe’s rested on the tabletop.

“One grilled cheese with fruit and one breakfast platter,” the waitress said, seemingly appearing out of thin air. Max startled, jerking her hand back, and flashed a smile to the waitress. Chloe felt her heart sink. 

The pancakes and bacon was good. Not good enough to give Chloe full-on flashbacks of the Two Whales, but good enough she finished the entire thing in under fifteen minutes and still have time to steal some of Max’s fruit. What she’d said earlier hadn’t come up again. Chloe almost let herself believe that Max was in a better mood, even. 

“So, what now? Stay in Sacramento for a little while? I saw a train museum that looking just  _ thrilling,  _ but I’d pass it up for something a little more exciting,” Chloe said as she hopped in the truck. She glanced over at Max and stopped. She was staring at her with the strangest expression, a faint flush over her cheeks. “Uh. Max?” Max blinked a few times and leaned back--  _ when did she lean forward?-- _ before snapping out of it. 

“Yeah! Um, Sacramento sounds good!” she said. 

“Did I miss something?” Chloe said. “You kinda spaced. Everything okay?”

“Yeah!” Max nearly shouted. “All good, you didn’t...miss anything.” Chloe quirked an eyebrow and Max immediately looked down at her hands. “So. Train museum?”

“God, no!” Chloe groaned. “Not even if you  _ paid  _ me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song at the beginning is "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers. You haven't listened it then you are missing out, it is the best song to sing along to in the car.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I've had the idea of writing a road trip story for awhile to stave off my wandering tendencies, so here we go. This chapter is short in order to just introduce the idea, I promise the next chapter will be longer and EVEN GAYER.  
> The title is based off of the song "Maps" by the Front Bottoms.  
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
